[va-bird] Cape May & Cape Charles compared, part 1

CAPE MAY AND CAPE CHARLES COMPARED, part 1.

Abbreviations:  CBC, Christmas Bird Count.  CC, Cape Charles.  CM, Cape
May.

Probably not too many of us really care about a Cape May vs. Cape Charles
C.B.C. competition.  I, and a few others, do.  However, I find in
comparisons much more of interest than simply whether one place or the
other "wins".  Just for fun, then, let's examine the 2 efforts, with
emphasis on this past December.  Most of this is off the top of my head. 
Don't expect any (in the case of Cape May) 82-year average numbers, etc.,
that sort of thing.

In December the 2 CBC's had these results: CM numbers are first (followed
by CC's in parentheses).  Number of observers: 79 (43), this statistic
alone speaks volumes.  Number of parties 31 (20).  229.75 party hours
(144).  Number of species: 160 (155).  

COMPARATIVE NUMBERS IN  2002.  Here are some comparative numbers of
selected, significant species, the significance of the number disparities
of some of these are theorized upon farther on below:  

Pied-billed Grebe 0, an unbelievable miss by Cape May (27).  Double-crested
Cormorant 47 (178, being farther south helps, as per gannet, too). 
Northern Gannet 14 (4648).  Brown Pelican 2 (234).  Black-crowned Night
Heron 31 (1).  White Ibis 0 (82).  Mute Swan 30 (0).  Common Eider 3 (0). 
Common Goldeneye 4 (15; this species has become curiously scarce on the
ocean side of the Mid-Atlantic region).  Northern Bobwhite 6 (37). 
American Coot 2 (9, a disaster this year in the East).  Semipalmated Plover
9 (49).  American Oystercatcher 76 (193, in great decline at CC).  Willet 5
(217).  Marbled Godwit 0 (28).  Purple Sandpiper 126 (0).  Short-billed
Dowitcher 3 (92).  Short-eared Owl 0 (1).  

Blue-headed Vireo 0 (2).  Tree Swallow 83 (457).  House Wren 1 (12, another
case where being farther south helps).  Hermit Thrush 171 (122; amazing CM
should get so many more being farther north but the answer probably is its
superior manpower and bigger land area).  Gray Catbird 69 (38) and Brown
Thrasher 42 (26; same comments for these 2 as under Hermit Thrush above). 
Orange-crowned Warbler 9 (3; blows my mind that CM should get this many!). 
Pine Warbler 0 (24; well, CC has the Loblolly Pine forests, CM doesn't). 
Combined 3 species of "marsh sparrows: 7 (22).  Fox Sparrow 243 (258; for a
species that is supposed to be hurting both these totals are encouraging
and surprising).  Baltimore Oriole 4 (1, a good winter for them in the
Mid-Atlantic region).  House Finch 1,837 (143) and House Sparrow 1,148 (60;
these latter 2 species both somewhat scarce at CC).    

BIG GROUPS:  HERON TYPES (7 ea. for CM & CC), RAPTORS (CM 14, CC 11),
WATERFOWL (29, 26), SHOREBIRDS (18, 17) and SPARROWS (11, 13).  These 5
groups comprise a substantial percentage of the list on any major coastal
Mid-Atlantic count.  For CM in 2002 they totalled 79 of 160 species (49%). 
For CC 74 of 155 species (48%).  CM's 14 raptors is stupendous, including 4
buteos (with roughie and broad-winged) plus gos.  Normally both counts
almost always get the basic 11 (2 each of buzzards, buteos & accipiters
plus harrier, baldy & the 3 falcons).  Both counts are excellent waterfowl
places, although Redhead and Canvasback are often a hard row for either and
Common Merganser a squeaker.  Both have a good track record for Eurasian
Wigeon and the 3 jetty ducks (but CC is weaker with the jetty birds).  Both
counts are good shorebird areas, CM being better for purps and knots, CC
for godwits, Whimbrel, Willets and dows.  Both are good sparrow spots (the
above totals do not include towhee and junco).  The upshot: the 2 counts
are close to a tie with these 5 groups.  Several times CC has had over 30
waterfowl and 20 shorebird species.  CM I don't know but I suspect they can
say the same.    

GULLS.  CC CBC is not a prime gull area.  Laughing Gull is scarce in spite
of CC's southern setting.  The rarer gulls are rarer here than they are at
CM.  In 2002 CC CBC found 6 gull species.  CM CBC had 8.

WOODPECKERS.  With regularity CC CBC tallies 6 or 7 woodpecker species.  CM
CBC is in an area where Pileateds are practically accidental (there are
only a few county records!!!) and Red-headed Woodpeckers are seen much less
frequently than on CC CBC.

TRADITION (Birder on the Roof): 82 years (vs. 38).  The cumulative lists
for CM & CC CBC's are (amazingly) fairly close, I think, even after CM
adding an absolutely amazing 4 this year (!), mind boggling to do this
after 82 years (Brown Pelican, Wild Turkey, Long-billed Curlew, and
Ruby-throated Hummingbird).  I used to think, sometimes still do, that with
comparable manpower (throughout the year) CC could be similarly as
impressive as CM.  

A couple of times CC has had a higher seasonal hawk count in the fall
(including high counts of 364 peregrines in one day, over 1,000 Ospreys one
day, 51 Merlins BANDED in one day), higher saw-whet owl banding totals
(incl. 177 captured in one night), and for the most part higher CBC totals.
 However, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that there is no place
like Cape May.  

My orientation and devotion is to the Chesapeake Bay and the coasts of
Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, but please don't get me wrong.  I
love Cape May as well.  That's where I found my first rarity, a
Black-throated Gray Warbler that was new to the county list, September 30,
1961 (and best of all, later seen by many others) and I have had other good
times there.  I am inclined to refer to CC as the Poor Man's Cape May. 
Pete Dunne has called it Baja Cape May.  I will say, that because of the
collegiality and informality at CC, and the much smaller crowds, there is a
friendliness and acceptance at CC that I sometimes find lacking at CM.

Since its start in 1965 Cape Charles consistently "beat" Cape May without
any special effort to do so.  Lately this has not been the case.  Here's an
attempt to investigate why.

ADVANTAGE, CAPE MAY.  CM draws big numbers of birders all year long.  It is
close to the Philadelphia-New York megalopolitan area.  It is marketed
extremely well in the press and by CMBO.  And it is a naturally GREAT
place.  For years it has had a distinguished colony of resident
naturalists, the birding equivalent of Periclean 5th Century B.C. Athens,
Philadelphia in 1776, the Yankees in their hey day, and/or the London
Bloomsbury Group.  Of the latter it was said: "They lived on squares and
loved in triangles".  Nothing like this goes on at Cape May but one might
say: "They lived on a cape and birded on an oblate spheroid" (that would be
our Earth).  Whatever.  Other spots that have spawned or hosted core groups
of naturalists have been the Bronx County Bird Club in the 1940's, the Old
Lyme, Connecticut, area, or, simply, with apologies to John F. Kennedy,
"Old Lyme, Connecticut, when Roger Tory Peterson dined alone". 

The CM colony has recently lost Dave Sibley, Joan Walsh, and Shawneen
Finnegan but has seen the recent advent of Mark Garland and still has Mike
O'Brien, Paul Lehman, Louise Zemaitis, Pete Dunne, Jim Dowdell, Clay & Pat
Sutton, Richard Crossley, Vince Elia, and other luminaries.  So with this
terrific base of support there is a year-long exploration of the area and
consequent stakeouts that help the CM CBC.  Very little of this sort of
thing goes on at CC.

Actually, CC CBC in its first year, 1965, had a considerable gathering of
glitterati, if only for one day, even though there were only 10
participants, some destined to later become prominent in various settings,
including:  The count's founder, Will Russell (founder and director of
WINGS).  John Terborgh (MacArthur fellow).  Jared Diamond (MacArthur
fellow; Pulitzer Prize winner - in 1968 in General Non-Fiction, for "Guns,
Germs and Steel").  Paul Sykes (endangered species authority; life lister
supreme).  John Weske (bander extraordinaire of Royal Terns and Brown
Pelicans).  Fred Scott (editor and dean of Virginia birders).  Martin Cody,
an English ornithologist now at U.C.L.A., who gave a pretty good
description of a Common Cuckoo he says he saw on Smith Island. 

Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA
19119-1225.  215-248-4120.  Please, any off-list replies to: 
harryarmistead@xxxxxxxxxxx
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